Reality is a conceived perception of the world in a state that is believed to be true. This reality is what shapes a person’s idea of who they are, forming their identity. The Matrix (Lana and Lily Wachowski, 1999) is a film that brings up many uncertainties about the way reality and identity can be viewed. The world of the Matrix is believed to be the real world as it is currently known, but it is later revealed only to be a world created by a computer program. This take on science fiction envisions a futuristic world in which machines keep humans alive for their body heat. To keep the them complacent, humans are connected to the Matrix since birth, ignorant of the fact that their life is a lie. With the known world to be revealed as a fraud, …show more content…
When reality turns out to be a fantasy, it is this connection that allows the characters to adapt and continue to live. When Neo goes through the process to escape the Matrix, he develops ports in his head which are used to connect himself into the Matrix. Even within the Matrix, his body can still perceive physical sensations, such as those from pain and injuries, produced by the mind, which can affect the real body outside the Matrix. This is an example of the body and the mind unable to exist without the other. Using his gathered knowledge, Morpheus takes advantage of the virtual simulated reality in the mind to download skills into the brain. From this, they can use the skills in the brain by simply using their freed mind. Having the knowledge to do this is a demonstration of the humanity and control limited only to those outside the Matrix. Coming from within the Matrix, it is difficult for Neo to tell the difference between what is real and what is not. Throughout the film, fights take place in tall buildings, on rooftops, and underground areas. In these areas, where physical combat would be difficult for a regular person in the Matrix, Neo can bring forth his downloaded skills in this fictitious world to do the impossible. In the last fight with Agent Smith, Neo is able to transcend the limits through mental control in the Matrix and moves as fast as the agents. The editing of this scene shows the motions of the fight in which Neo is able to move inhumanely fast. He dodges bullets while in a posture that would be physically impossible had he not realized the truth of the Matrix. It is his freedom that allows him to utilize the functions of the Matrix and become the One, accepting his purpose in life. Being in control of the body, brain and mind is being free from any constraints in the world, which is the true reality
These men, known as agents, hold Neo down and insert a metal like device into his stomach. He soon awakes at his house and is told by Morpheus that he is “the one.” When he meets with Trinity and Morpheus, Trinity removes the metal device from his stomach which shocks him because he didn’t believe that to be real. Morpheus soon offers to reveal the Matrix to Neo. He is given the option of a red pill or blue pill; the blue in which he will go home and remember nothing, red in which will allow him to see the truth.
As Trinity tell Neo, "The Matrix can not tell you who you are." By being courageous enough to turn around and take the red pill, we, just like Neo and the Freed Man, are making the first step towards personal independence.
This student of Philosophy now sees the movie The Matrix in a whole new way after gaining an understanding of some of the underlying philosophical concepts that the writers of the movie used to develop an intriguing and well thought out plot. Some of the philosophical concepts were clear, while others were only hinted at and most likely overlooked by those unfamiliar with those concepts, as was this student when the movie first came out in theaters all those many years ago. In this part of the essay we will take a look at the obvious and not so obvious concepts of: what exactly is the Matrix and how does it related to both Descartes and Plato, can we trust our own senses once we understand what the Matrix is, and how Neo taking the Red Pill is symbolic of the beginning of the journey out of Pl...
Deep within the cave the prisoners are chained by their necks and have a limited view of reality. Around them, by the distant light of the fire, they only see shadows and outlines of people or objects. From their conclusions of what they may think is real, are false. “The Matrix” parallels Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” in a number of ways. Similar to the prisoners of the cave the humans trapped in the modern day puppet-handlers (the machines) want them to see. In the movie, Neo is a computer hacker, and on day he suddenly realizes that his world is fake, by finding out the truth after he was released from the pod. Neo discovers that what he has been presented with his entire life is only reflections or merely shadows of the truth. The theme is recognized throughout the movie as we see many objects, as well as Neo, reflected in other objects. The puppet-handlers (the machines) represent what Plato calls the influential and powerful members of society. The objects making the shadows in “The Allegory of the Cave” are also creating a false conclusion for the prisoners. In “The Matrix” the puppet-handle...
The Matrix is a movie covered in scenes that live one of the biggest theories from discussions from Adorno and Horkheimer critique of the society. Their claim is that the society is in a “state of false consciousness, a consciousness which hides the reality of domination and oppression of the masses under capitalism” (Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor W. Adorno). This is a film that acts as part of what is feed to the masses to continually believe in. most of this information is always propaganda, false news or information that is supposed to condition the people’s way of thinking. In the film “The matrix”, there is a representation daily experiences by chaos in social discrepancy and technical specialization.
In the movie, The Matrix there are many similarities with the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? One similarity is that of the matrices in both works. The movie has a matrix of dreams. According to the movie, humans are dreaming. Dreaming means that the reality humans think of, is not reality. The reality humans think of, is a dream. Confusing, isn t? An easier way of understanding this matrix is to think of human dreams. When humans experience dreams, it is not perceived as a dream until the dream ends. The movie exemplifies humans in the dream state of mind, similar to the dreaming stage. Neo is exposed to his real matrix. The matrix outside of his perceptual reality. He is able to perform with an incredible flexibility and high speed thinking. He is no longer dreaming, or as Neo called it, living. Neo has waken up. The book shares this matrix as well.
Let me briefly explain a simplified plot of The Matrix. The story centers around a computer-generated world that has been created to hide the truth from humans. In this world people are kept in slavery without their knowledge. This world is designed to simulate the peak of human civilization which had been destroyed by nuclear war. The majority of the world's population is oblivious to the fact that their world is digital rather than real, and they continue living out their daily lives without questioning their reality. The main character, Neo, is a matrix-bound human who knows that something is not right with the world he lives in, and is eager to learn the truth. He is offered the truth from a character named Morpheus, who proclaims that Neo is “the One” (chosen one) who will eventually destroy the Matrix, thereby setting the humans “free.” For this to happen, Neo must first overcome the Sentient Program agents who can jump into anyone's digital body. They are the Gate Keepers and hold the keys to The Matrix.
The identity and reality that Neo faces all begins with the famous choice given upon his encounter with Morpheus, “the red pill or the blue pill?” This question poses a very difficult decision for Neo. Should he take the blue pill and live without knowing the truth and who he actually is, or should he take the red pill and discover the truth and figure out what his life is really all about. The film as a whole and especially this particular scene is deeply compelling. On one hand you have everyone you love and everything that you have built your life upon, though being fed with false sensory information by a giant virtual reality computer called the Matrix. On the other, you are promised only truth. Is it better to live in a harsh reality or a comfortable fantasy? How could a choice possibly be made? In essence, the choice is one that is between truth and happiness, and Neo hungered for the truth. Neither living as a hacker nor working for a company would suffice. Neo wanted to find his “true” identity, and he does so through...
The matrix, as presented in the eponymous film, operates as an Althusserian Ideological State Apparatus (ISA). The Matrix1 presents a world in which "the state [as] a 'machine' of repression" is made literal where robots rule the land (Althusser 68). It is true that they rule by force (sentinels and agents) and these constitute the Repressive State Apparatus, but their primary force of subjugation is the matrix, their ISA. The film traces the path of one man, Neo, in his painful progress from the ideology of the matrix to the "real world," or the ideology of the "real."2
In The Cave prisoners are chained, from birth, to face a wall within a dark cave. These prisoners have never had any interactions with the outside world. Their only understanding of the outside world comes from a bridge and a fire at their backs. When people, animals, or objects cross the bridge, the fire projects their shadows upon the cave wall which the prisoners are facing. To these prisoners, the obscure shadows which dance along the walls of the cave are the only “real” thing they know. To their brains, which have never experienced, seen, or came into any contact with anything in the outside world, this is reality. To the prisoners, reality is a jumble of dark shadows which occasionally move from one end of a cave wall to another. This is their perception of reality because it is all they have ever known. While The Matrix does not involve prisoners being chained to a cave wall, the ideas within it are very much the same as in The Cave. Neo, the main character in The Matrix, has unknowingly been living in the matrix his whole life. The matrix world is his reality much like the shadows on the cave wall are the prisoner’s reality. As the world outside of the cave is the true world for the prisoners, the true reality for Neo is the real world which exists outside of the matrix, which is a highly advanced
The Matrix, is a science fiction action based movie that has one main focus being Neo who symbolises ‘The One’. Fate essentially your destiny and freewill meaning a decision you make under no one’s obligation both are shown throughout different moments in the film. There are some key scenes where these points are evident and where it explores these main themes. Some key relations to this topic are the pill scene, just after Morpheus and Neo do Japanese martial arts known as jujitsu and his visit to the Oracle. This movie has many overall links and will be discussing the major contributions this all had on the overall film.
The Matrix is a sci-fi action film about a computer hacker named Neo that has been brought into another world deemed “the matrix.” The Matrix is a prime example of cinematography. The film uses many different types of cinematography such as mise-en-scene, special effects, and camera shots to make it interesting and entertaining to the audience guiding their attention to the important aspects of the film.
The Matrix specifically shows how advanced technology such as artificial intelligence (A.I.) may one day get out of the control of the people and become a dangerous enemy to mankind. It turns out that in the movie people believe that they are living normal lives in the 90's as common businessmen and families as we do today, when in reality the time is later in the 21st century and people are hooked up to machines in pods where they are merely interpreting electrical signals which tells them that the they are alive in the 90's. They call this set up The Matrix. The artificial intelligence machines put these people in these pods for their whole lives where they never use a muscle in their body; they only think that they are moving and living normal lives.The reason why the artificial intelligence machines put people into pods is because the sky is scorched and there is no source of electricity, so the A.I. units found an alternate source of energy: humans.
Morpheus is like a mole, a rogue hidden in the system, he offers the truth to the people who are different. As the Wachowski brothers show, “You’re here because you know something. What you know, you can’t explain. But you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is but it’s there, like a splinter in your mind driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.” (The Wachowski Brothers) Morpheus goes through the matrix, in and out finding new people to recruit because they are different but he says he offer the truth, and he delivers. In Anthem Equality was different because of curiosity and interest of discovery, but Morpheus beckons people toward his cause. Unlike Anthem’s world, The Matrix is ruled by robots, that grow humans in incubators like we do with chickens. The robots grow humans for an infinite power source and when humans die then they get dumped because the “battery” no longer has energy left. The Matrix universe is sucked of all life, humans are forced into hiding so they aren’t captured and put into the matrix. The world that Neo lived in is based on code, as explained, “ ‘...No!...’ ‘How!?!’ ‘He is...The One...’ ” (The Wachowski Brothers) At this moment in the film Neo is shot, and dies. But then he believes in himself that he is The One, and comes back to life and instead of seeing the agents as agents he sees them as green code.
At first Neo shows a lack of freedom, chained in his internal thoughts. But as a notorious cybercriminal, Neo has a powerful, devious mind hacking and manipulating codes. Having always felt like something was inconsistent with his reality, Neo is intrigued to ‘follow the white rabbit’. His curiosity was to lead his life into the matrix. It was his job